It was almost two years ago to the day that I first voiced my appreciation of the Alaska riding blog No Bikes, in a parenthetical side note to a post about the Ukrainian ghost town of Pripyat.
The frequent anecdotes and photos offered glimpses of a tight-knit bmx scene in the midst of mountains, wilderness, wildlife, and frontier culture, and always left me hungering for more. With the release of No Bikes' seventh video, Burn This, that hunger has been finally, finally satisfied.
In addition to the full length video, rider / filmer / editor / photographer / blogger / husband / financial actuary Aaron Gates found the time to re-edit the footage into a surprisingly legitimate documentary, called The Hinterland, offered as a bonus item on the dvd. My recommendation: buy this $5 dvd right now, and watch the documentary immediately. Give that time to settle, and then watch Burn This.
Offered online are two standout scenes from The Hinterland. Enjoy.
Another late review for a video that's already kind of out-of-production and probably available to watch online; but my intentions with these reviews are more historical than anything. What I mean is, Google "Summer Sundays by Ryan Hoey," and nothing related to the video comes up. Even if projects like this are underpromoted and fall below the radar, I think it's worthwhile to acknowledge them and document that they existed.
And I think that as the growth of the internet and proliferation of web videos renders old fashioned plastic less relevant, the ever-rarer bookshelf-archivable media will only be more valuable and cherished. These reviews are an expression of my appreciation for stuff that takes up space.
I don't really read reviews, unless I'm not planning on seeing the film or reading the book, since I can't stand having any aspect of it spoiled. All I want to get out of a review is, very minimally, whether or not the piece is worth going for. Once I've seen or read the piece, I often seek out reviews, sort of like extending the experience.
So.
No spoilers on this blog.
Here's what I got from Hoey in the mail: The video, two Laffy Taffies, two Mike Jonas stickers, and a Ride poster of Bruce Crisman from his halcyon X-Games days--so great! My wife cares little about bike videos, but she was wholeheartedly psyched on the candy, still moist and chewy. I think the dvd graphic and sticker on the jewel case spine make for a nice little package.
(Btw, this poster is priceless. Check the camper sporting the Girls Are Evil shirt, crazy low bars, and 990 brake stiffener. And bracing up the picnic table appears to be none other than the late Colin Winkleman.) Hoey referred to this as his "trails video" on bmxboard, so that's what I was expecting. It is mostly trails, and I think it's safe to say that the dirt jumping mindset is fundamentally different from that of all other kinds of riding. As "legend" put it in this thread, "Trail riders are just a different type of people... not as hungry." This video is not about tricks, and it's not organized into rider sections (a tired, pretentious editing format anyway, in my opinion). It's just a bunch of unknown Long Island guys boosting some massive dirt jumps in the woods, and having a lot of fun.
Mike Jonas gets his own four pegs brakeless street section, which really comes out of nowhere and is a great break from the dirt. I like the guy, and he deserves his own sticker. You'll like it, too. Still, I kinda wish the video had been 100% trails.
Hoey said he just made this video to give away to friends, but he'll probably flow one to anyone that asks. Go RSS his blog and shoot him an email. Mike Jonas blogs, too.
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This Fourth-of-July web video is newer than the Summer Sundays dvd. Think of it as a trailer for Hoey's next project. Click through to watch in high-res.
